How Much Power Should A Stock C6 Z06 Make on the Dyno?
C6 Corvette Z06 packs bone stock LS7 engine, place your bets.
The LS7 is a special engine in the Corvette community. It has 7.0-liters of displacement and a 7,000 RPM redline, it is a naturally-aspirated testament to the potential of the LS engine. And, with 505 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque, there is absolutely still room to grow, when it comes to power potential. However, like most engines, the LS7 isn’t bulletproof. In particular, the factory heads are something of a ticking time bomb, if left unaddressed.
That brings us to this YouTube video posted by user Cecilio Casablanca. According to the video, Casablanca just bought this 2009 Z06 and was curious to see how healthy the engine is, so he strapped it down the rollers to see what it does.
Right away, the C6Z sounds great. While all modern Corvettes have a pretty healthy exhaust note, something about the LS7, in particular, seems to stand out. Perhaps it’s that extra 500 peak RPM to play with, we aren’t sure, either way, this Z06 screams all the way to the red line.
According to Casablanca, the Victory Red wonder produced 430 WHP and 400 WTQ on the dyno. Some rough math on our end shows this be almost exactly a 15% difference from the crank horsepower readings. This matches up with the generally held internet wisdom that a rear-wheel drive car with a manual transmission should experience about a 15% power loss through the drivetrain, from the engine to the wheels. So it sounds like Casablanca picked up a healthy example here. And, with just 46,000 miles on the odometer, it has plenty of life left in it for upgrades and a lot of fun driving.